"A call to her doctor husband is Estelle Reyes-Guzman's unwelcome reminder that it may be Christmas Eve, but it's still her job as undersheriff to deal with things not as pleasant as welcoming friends and relatives and listening to her two small boys put their storybook tales to music. Shortly after her husband hurries off to see the patient, Estelle gets a call of her own from the dispatcher at headquarters. An anonymous person has called the emergency...

Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman looks for a motive that might connect a competitor found dead on the trail of a 100-mile bicycle race through Posadas County and the three bodies shot to death execution-style at a remote New Mexico airstrip.

"When a county employee is found shot to death in sun-drenched daylight while sitting in his county road grader, Undersheriff Bill Gastner is faced with puzzling questions. The simplest explanation--that an errant bullet from a careless target shooter's rifle blew out Larry Zipoli's brains--is soon discarded as inconsistencies surface. The fatal bullet shows no rifling marks, and investigation reveals that the shooter walked directly toward the road...

"Good cops have no use for coincidence When a driver slams his pickup truck-twice-into a tandem bike being ridden by Carlos Guzman and his fiancée, Tasha, in Briones, California, it's more than a simple hit-and-run; the driver clearly intended to harm them. Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman gets the call with the news of her son's accident and wastes no time racing to his side. She is greeted by Police Captain Eddie Mitchell, formerly of Posadas...

With the sheriff out on medical leave following a serious injury, Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is called upon to run the Posadas County department and finds herself investigating a strange accident that has injured another police officer.